Numerous data sets in one place. Fast
facts about climate and weather. Overviews showing
the breadth of the organization’s research. Every
major UCAR, NCAR, and UOP division and program at a
glance.
These are some of the highlights of the organization’s
new umbrella Web site. More>

Identifying
storms that produce tornadoesAn ASP postdoctoral researcher, Huaqing
Cai, is working on a technique that could help forecasters
identify the storms most likely to spin up tornadoes. It
involves applying fractal geometry to mesocyclones. More>

A
fast way to measure PANIt’s
been more than four decades since scientists became aware
of PAN, a chemical in the atmosphere associated with ground-level
ozone. But they could never devise a way to quickly measure
it—until now. More>

Commuter
of the YearThe City of Boulder has named SCD’s
Jim Van Dyke as the transit winner in its annual Commuter
of the Year awards. A
Littleton resident, Jim commutes via bus, light rail, UCAR
shuttle, and sometimes his bicycle. More>

Movers hoist the engineering
model of the High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder
(HIRDLS) instrument into CG2, where it will be housed
in the computer room. The engineering model is very
similar in size, weight, and functionality to the
actual instrument that is scheduled to be launched
this month aboard NASA’s Aura spacecraft. In
particular, the electronics and onboard computers
are the same. If ACD’s John Gille and others
in the HIRDLS group need to send new commands to
the instrument during the mission, they can first
test the commands on the engineering model. An important
feature is that their partners at Oxford University
will also be able to log in and test commands remotely.
Once launched, HIRDLS will ­gather data on atmospheric
chemistry in the underexplored tropopause region
(the transition zone between the troposphere and
the stratosphere) as well as in the stratosphere
and mesosphere.